Distrib picks up docu

Currently in post-production, the film, by Omar Shargawi and Karim El Hakim, is one of the first film narratives of Egypt’s people power revolution.

Shargawi — who picked up a Tiger award in Rotterdam in 2008 for his film “My Father from Haifa, Ma Salama Jamil” — and El Hakim shot the film after arriving in Cairo on another assignment just before Cairo’s Tahrir Square erupted into the first of a wave of extraordinary — and ongoing — uprisings across the Arab world.

The two captured on film the revolution as it happened, recording startling images that happened out of the view of the world’s media, in the alleyways and streets of Cairo.

Arrested by Egyptian secret police intent on preventing the violent government backlash being filmed, the two were beaten, before being released when it was realized they both had foreign passports.

The film captures the psychological impact of the revolution that media reports at the time did not.

“Shargawi and El Hakim capture on tape the revolutionary optimism that soon takes an emotional side shift into fear and the struggle to stay united amidst the military’s brutal tactics,” Tine Klint, of LevelK said.

Produced by Danish shingle Carsten Holst/Globus Film and co-produced by Cairo-based Prophecy Films, ” 1/2 Revolution” is supported by the Danish Film Institute and Danish Radio.

LevelK is handling international sales; the film is part of its Cannes lineup, which also includes “Say Nothing” from Australian first-time feature film director Kieran Darcy-Smith, “Ronal the Barbarian” from Einstein Film and “A Funny Man” from director Martin Zandvliet.